Zombie Ants and Killer Fungus 125
nibbles2004 writes "An article in the Guardian newspaper shows how parasitic fungi evolved the ability to control ants they infect, ultimately leading the ant to its death. The fungus controls the ant's movements to a suitable leaf and causes the ant to grip onto the leaf's central stem, allowing the fungus to spore, which will allow more ants to become infected."
Re:Where's Master Chief... (Score:2, Insightful)
When you need him?
At the strip club getting a table dance... where the hell else did you think he'd be?
Re:hmm.. (Score:5, Insightful)
We're the FLORA, and what we thought was flora, IS ACTUALLY THE FAUNA
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:hmm.. (Score:4, Insightful)
M. Night Shiamalan will probably make a stupid movie about this.
Well, that'd be quite a step up from his other movies, at least.
Re:BBC Planet Earth shows this (Score:4, Insightful)
It doesn't have to induce behavior that complex -- it just has to inhibit or stimulate responses already genetically programmed into the ant.
Its not a safe assumption that anything about the fungus is directly causing those behaviors -- there's a lot of fungus in the world, and there's a lot of species that fungus may grow on. All you need is one combination to be beneficial to the fungus, and it'll spread.